More to Life
Disclaimer: Marie & Pierre are mine, the rest belong to JK Rowling.
Author's Note: I loved reading all the adjectives in the reviews to describe Pierre (slimy git, scum bucket, bad Pierre, jerk, evil, horrible, cheating scum....) It was funny. Sorry, I just love reading funny reviews and wanted to thank those who sent little laughs. (The "OH NO HE DIDN"T"s and "GASP"s were quite cute)
Thanks to the reviewers:
Silly bandit: Here's more! Thanks for reading.
Heart of Flame: I know, I don't update as much as I would like. Thanks for reading and reviewing though
Mel B: Thanks!
Spastic Bookworm: I'm so glad that Marie's accent was understandable, thanks for the idea, I have planned for Fred to have some dating dilemmas.
Mary-Jane Black: Yeah, I realize that it was kind of obvious since this is a Fred/Mione story, so it was pretty clear that Pierre and Hermione weren't right. Thanks so much for reading and reviewing!
Kiwi36: Scum bucket is a fun word. Fred and Mione aren't really together in this chapter but will definitely interact with one another within the next two.
gOTHIKcHICK101: Thanks for reading and reviewing!
TropChoutte: No, that's not really nitpicky. I really, sincerely appreciate the criticism and suggestions. They are the best kind of reviews. I agree with your suggestion; thanks for taking the time to make it. Oh and the krazy glue bit was cute.
George-and-Mione: Yeah, I agree that Mione and one of the twins would be cute. It's gonna be Fred though, seeing as how George has Katie...
Mystery of the Night: Thank you so much for reading!
Tsk Tsk: Yea! I'm glad you like it! Thanks for being a returning reader and reviewer. That rocks.
Santurion2: Yeah, they are getting complicated. Thanks for reviewing.
HermyGWeasley: I liked the little smiles at the end of the review. Thanks for reading.
Pitbossheather: Fred will get his Mione soon. Thanks for reading and reviewing.
Morgaine: Thanks for reading and reviewing!
Liza: Thanks for the review!
Saotoshi: Thank you so much for reading my stories! You guys rock!
Mars18: I'd pick Fred too. Thanks!
Kelso: Thanks for reading!
Tickle the dragon: Thanks for reviewing!
Lady Paine: Yeah, Pierre is in very big trouble
Courtney Anne: Thanks for being so enthusiastic about reading the story but I think if you sign up for Author Alert it will tell you when I update a chapter. Thanks again!
Jenni Black: Thanks for the review!
Chapter Six: In Too Deep
Cause I'm in too deep
And I'm trying to keep
Up above in my head
Instead of going under
Cause I'm in too deep
And I'm trying to keep
Up above in my head
Instead of going under
Instead of going under
I can't sit back and wonder why
It took so long for this to die
I hate it when you fake it
You can't hide
You might as well embrace
Believe me, it's not easy
Something's telling me
I'm in too deep
In Too Deep by Sum 41
Two and a half weeks had passed since that wonderful introduction to my new love, Pierre Gregory. We had been out every night since then. We went out to eat, we visited museums, we went dancing, we even saw a muggle movie. It was perfect with the exception of two of the dates being cut short because Pierre's publicist wanted to see him. His publicist, who also happens to be Alex, his roommate, is rather demanding. He always seems to want to know where Pierre is. Pierre sort of lies to him but he told me that is just because Alex is overprotective.
"We are going out again tonight," I told Lavender as I changed into my favourite black skirt and navy blue blouse.
"You guys are really moving fast." She commented, staring at her fidgeting hands. She was sitting on my bed rather quietly. Quiet and Lavender were not two things that normally went in the same sentence without the word 'not' in front of 'quiet'. She hadn't even commented on the fact that I was wearing black and blue. She is seriously against the use of those two colours together.
"Lavender, are you okay?"
Her eyes darted to a framed photo of me and Pierre. He had his arms wrapped around my neck. The picture was taken after a day of visiting art museums and having a picnic in a park. I absolutely loved it. "Yeah, of course." She answered after a moment of drifting off into her own little world. It was obvious that she was lying.
"Lavender?"
She spun around and looked at me. "Do you think that you and Pierre will get married?"
"What?" I asked, dropping the necklace I was holding.
"Are you guys going to get married?"
"Lav, it's only been two weeks. You know I wait until at least three weeks before accepting a marriage proposal." I teased.
"No, seriously, do you think that you are going to get married?"
"I know what this is about." I said, suddenly seeing the light.
Lavender perked up. "You do?"
"Don't worry Lavender, you will so be my maid of honor when I get married."
"What?" She said, my answer obviously not what she was looking for. "Never mind, forget I said anything." She sighed, falling backwards onto my bed.
"Come on, tell me," I said, sitting next to her head. I brushed a strand of her cornsilk blonde hair out of her eyes.
She thought about it for a second before unexpectedly launching herself upright. "I don't think that Seamus is ever going to propose!" She wailed as she crashed her head onto my shoulder. Oh, Merlin, does Lavender have a hard head. My shoulder is so going to have a bruise tomorrow.
"What makes you think that?" I asked her, hugging her. This was so not what I needed right now. I had a date.
"Mione we have been dating for years and he hasn't proposed. It's our anniversary tonight and I haven't even gotten flowers. And the other day when I brought up the idea of marriage after we watched The Wedding Planer, he said that he thought 'marriage just seemed like one big hassle'. Mione, I have been planning my wedding since I was five. I want my white lacy dress and my tiara and my pink flowers with the white lilies and the unicorn drawn carriage."
"Don't you guys have a date tonight? I'm sure he'll give you flowers then," I told her, ignoring the unicorn comment and gently rubbing her back as her tears poured down my favourite shirt.
"You think?" She said sitting up and rubbing her eyes. She had just spent the past few minutes gushing her eyes out and then she suddenly stops and still looks perfect. My eyes look bad when I step outside on a bad day. She cries more water than is in the English channel and there isn't even the slightest bit of red. Merlin, I hate her.
"Now, go get ready. You want to look good with your flowers."
She laughed and wiped a tear out of her eye. "Oh, Merlin. Good thing, I cried on that blouse. You so cannot wear that out in public. Blue and black do not go together."
It had been nearly two and a half weeks and I still had not decided what to do with that book. It was killing me. Do I tell Hermione? Do I tell Marie? Do I find Pierre and curse him off the face of the planet? All three were perfectly good suggestions but I couldn't bring myself to do any of them. I couldn't tell Hermione because I loved her. I was not going to be the one to break her heart by telling her that she was dating a prat. I couldn't tell Marie either. We had become pretty good friends. She was bored when her fiancé went off to do book seminars or whatever he told he, so she came and hung around the shop. Believe me, she is nice company and has actually volunteered to be a guinea pig for some of our products. But every time I see her, she reminds me of Pierre and the fact that I seem to be the only one (with the exception of Pierre) that knows how he is hurting her and Hermione. I couldn't hurt Pierre. A slimy little prat like him was not worth going to Azkaban for.
"Fred, you are very creative," Marie said, sitting on the stool behind the counter, examining a Hypnotic Crystal ball.
"Thank you," I said as I restocked our display of electrocuting lollipops. I was having trouble looking her in the eyes. And not just because of the Pierre thing either. Her eyes are like super blue. The kind of trap you and force you to stare at them until Marie breaks you out of your trance and you have to lie and say that you must of dozed off. She probably thinks by now that I have a major sleeping disorder or that I swallowed a lot of sleeping potion when I was younger.
"Remind me why she is here again," George whispered in my ear. He believed that she was my secret girlfriend. It certainly didn't help when Marie told him that she was engaged because then George began to suspect that we were getting hitched. I like Marie and all, I mean she is really pretty and actually pretty cool, I mean, she puts up with our pranks. Katie, George's wife, doesn't even do that and she married the guy. It's just my heart belongs to someone else. That someone else being on a date with Marie's fiancé. Oh, what a tangled mess.
"She is a friend that is visiting from France and has nothing else to do. She likes hanging around here. Be nice." I told him. Marie was not paying attention to us. She was busy gazing into the Hypnotic Crystal Ball.
"I will be nice since she's almost family now, right?" He said with a smirk.
"We are not engaged," I told him before shoving the now half empty box of lollipops in the back room.
George ignored this comment. "So when is the big date?" He said very loudly. So loud that it knocked Marie out of her hypnotic state and she definitely heard what he said.
"What big date? Are you getting married, Fred?" She asked, clapping her hands together. "Oh, I love marriages!"
George gave her the oddest look. I quickly tried to cover this not so funny conversation up. "He meant the date when we get our big shipment. Which isn't going to happen because there was no engagement with the shipping people." I tried to send George a message.
Marie looked quite confused. "You are engaged to your delivery person?" I am beginning to think that Marie is a little clueless because when I first met her I explained all about my dating dilemma, names withheld, and yet she seemed to have no clue as to what was going on.
"No!" I yelped considering our delivery guy is this old wizard with really bad breath. He thinks he is being followed by vampires and constantly smells like garlic. The guy has a few screws loose in his head. You know what, forget loose, I think they are completely missing. "I am not engaged or dating or getting married or divorced or anything! No romantic involvement anywhere!"
"Oh, zat is so sad, Fred." Marie said with a sympathetic face. "I am sure zat you will find true love. You are very cute and zoughtful."
"Aw, hear that Fred? You are cute." George teased.
"You are cute too," Marie assured him as if he thought that Marie was saying I was cuter than him. Which everyone knows is true (just kidding)
"So do you really think that you and Pierre will get married?" Lavender asked as she re-entered my room in a gorgeous pink dress rather than the jogging pants and tee shirt she donned earlier.
"I never really thought about it," I said even though I had honestly thought about it once. Okay, twice. Maybe it was three times. All right, I think about it a lot!
"Come on, don't give me that bull." Lavender said, brushing her hair with my brush. "What colour are the bridesmaid dresses?"
"Midinight blue!" I blurted out but quickly clamped my hand over my mouth.
"Ha! So you did think about it! But nice choice by the way, I am thinking pink for mine." She said, now putting in earrings. My earrings but I didn't care. We were sisters. As much as we didn't get along in our early years at Hogwarts, we had grown to be the best of friends. It started when Lavender had gotten in a fight with Parvati and Padma Patil and wasn't talking to them. So she had no one to gossip with it. It was killing her. Lavender Brown cannot live with gossiping to someone. And guess who was the lucky one she picked to talk to? Yours truly. Believe me, I'm glad now that she did. She's my best friend. But back in fifth year, I could have killed her when for the three weeks that she wasn't talking to Parvati; all I heard about was what was going on with other students. I learned about Eloise Midgen's alleged nose job, Draco Malfoy's dumping of Pansy Parkinson for Blaise Zambini, Pansy Parkinson's hexing of Blaise Zambini's gorgeous dark brown hair, Justin Finch-Fletchley's crush on Hannah Abbott, Zacharias Smith's secret love for Ginny Weasley. If Lavender heard anything around school, I knew about it. But then she made up with the twins and I no longer heard the gossip. But by then it was too late for me. I was addicted to the world of Lavender Brown. I sat with them in classes and at lunch. They pulled me away from my world of books, school, and the library, and into their world of gossip, make-up, and late night truth or dare sessions. I was trapped in and the worst part of it was, I didn't want to be rescued. I loved that world. There is just something about debating who was going to be dating who at our five year reunion that was just much more fun than studying arithmancy.
"We are going to be brides one day, Lavender," I practically squealed with excitement.
Then her face fell. "We can probably have a double wedding because it will take Seamus that long to propose." She said, sighing. "Why did I have to fall in love with a guy that was afraid of marriage? Is this some kind of punishment for something I did in a past life?" She asked the ceiling. (I think she was talking to some higher being or something but it appeared as if she was accusing the ceiling of being responsible for her misfortune in love)
Then the idea hit me on the head. "Lavender, tonight is your anniversary."
"I already told you that, duh," She said.
'No, it is your anniversary."
"Isn't that what I just said? Jeez Hermione, for someone who is supposedly a genius, you catch on rather slow." Lavender said, now trying on a pair of my heels.
"No, I mean, he might propose tonight because it's your anniversary," I told her.
Lavender's eyes grew to the size of Rememberalls and her mouth cracked into a smile wider than Madame Maxime. "OH MY GOD!" She said taking a deep breath. "Mione, I'm getting married. I'M GETTING MARRIED!"
Then we started doing what Seamus calls the 'happy jumping up and down while screaming bit' we do whenever something good happens to us. We just can't help it. It's like something that girls are required to do. Jump and scream when you are happy.
We continued this bit for a few minutes until a distinctive pop came from our living room. We both immediately stopped and stuck our heads out of my bedroom door. A few seconds later, Seamus wandered into the hall, "Lavender? Are you ready, sweetie?"
"He called me sweetie!" Lavender whispered to me in a hushed but excited voice.
"Hi, baby. Hey, Mione," He said coolly as he walked into my bedroom. Lavender couldn't help it. She started squealing again and jumping up and down. Since this sort of happiness is contagious, I joined in on the jumping.
"What's up with you two?" Seamus asked, fidgeting with his tie. He was all dressed up and holding a bouquet of lilies, Lavender's favorite. I knew it, I knew it. This was so the night he was going to propose.
Lavender just glanced at him in his nice clothes and tie with the flowers in his hand and gave me a smile that let me know she was going to be all right.
"George!" Katie called as she entered the shop. George was in the back room and I didn't answer her seeing as how I'm not George but she walked right in and kissed me on the cheek.
"Aww, see, you got a girl already," Marie said, clapping her hands together. "I was right, no?"
"You were looking for another girl?" Katie hissed. She took her hand and whacked me upside the head. "How dare you!"
"Why should you care?" I asked her.
Katie looked like she was going to spit fireballs at me, "Because I'm your wife you idiot!"
"Fred! I zought you said zat you weren't married?" Marie said, hopping off her stool. "How could you lie like zat? I zought zat I knew you!"
"Fred?" Katie said, her face rapidly going paler. "Bloody hell, Fred, I'm sorry," she stuttered, totally embarrassed.
"She is not your wife?" Marie asked, thoroughly confused.
George re-entered the store. He looked at the three of us standing rather close to each other. "Katie?" He said, walking closer towards us, now silent. "Why is your face so red? Fred, why is your face so red?"
"Well, you see-"
"Just a misunderstanding-"
"I zought zat 'e was her fiancé-"
"You guys are all talking at once. I can't understand you," George replied.
Marie muttered something in French and then tried to explain. "I saw Fred kiss zis girl and I zought zat 'e lied to me-"
"Fred kissed Katie?" George asked, sounding quite enraged.
"No! No! Katie kissed Fred! Katie kissed Fred!" I shouted desperately trying to save my butt. "Katie definitely kissed Fred! Fred would never kiss Katie! Never!"
"Hey, I'm kissable," Katie snapped, placing her hands on her hips.
"We know you are. You kissed 'im," Marie replied, not quite understanding the situation.
"You kissed Fred?" George asked, bewildered.
"No," Katie replied.
"Yes!" Marie and I said in unison.
"What?"
"I didn't kiss him because he was Fred, I kissed him because I thought he was you, and I was extremely embarrassed when I found out that he wasn't you explaining why my face was red." Katie told him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
"And my face is red because your wife slapped me for cheating on her," I told him, waving my finger at Katie.
"You think I'm cheating on you?" George asked her.
"No, it's just when I came in Marie said the he was looking for a new girl and that was still when I thought Fred was you, so I thought that you were trying to replace me."
"Never," George told her, kissing her on the forehead. George was a great bit taller than Katie.
"Aww, 'ow sweet," Marie said, sighing. When the three of us stared at her to see if she was genuinely touched or just teasing George, she replied. "What? I'm a, what you say, 'opeless romantic?"
"Just give me a few more minutes, baby, okay?" Lavender said, giving her boyfriend a kiss on his freckled cheek. "You arrived earlier than I thought you would."
Seamus turned a lovely shade of crimson. "Sorry, I was just nervo- I mean excited. You know that nervous butterfly excitement. It's because of our anniversary, nothing else, it's just an anniversary is a big deal, you know? Know what? I'll just wait in the kitchen for you, okay?" He spilled, now looking a little pale as if he was about to pass out. He quickly excused himself, muttering something under his breath as he walked down the hall.
"Did you see how nervous he was?" I told Lavender. She just beamed with happiness. "He is so going to propose."
"I know!" Lavender squealed, hugging me again. "Tomorrow morning, bright and early, it's our day off, and we are going wedding dress shopping!"
"We'll be at the store when it opens." I promised.
Lavender looked me in the eyes. "We will be there hours before it opens. This is my wedding dress, Hermione. It has to be perfect."
"All right," I told her, handing her her purse.
She started to walk out the door, when she spun around and just grinned at me. "I'm getting married!" she squealed and once again the jumping up and down ensued.
"Well, we'll see you guys tomorrow," Katie said as I locked up the shop door. George waved good-bye and placed his arm around Katie, pulling her in close.
"Want to catch some dinner, Fred?" Marie asked, linking her arm around mine.
"Sure," I told her as we walked down the streetlamp lit streets of Hogsmeade.
"Where should we eat?" She asked.
"You know what? Why don't you come back to my place and I'll whip you up something?"
Marie smiled. "You can cook?"
"Yes," I told her.
She gave me a look. "What?"
"Lots of things."
"Such as...?"
"Well, I can cook pancakes, and milkshakes, and toast- wait no, the toaster had um, an accident, I can cook...can cook...pancakes?" I offered.
Marie laughed. "Pancakes and milkshakes are perfect."
"You live with ze Oliver Wood?" She asked, giving me full of view of the pancake she was eating. She obviously liked them. Hey, just because I can only cook two things does not mean that the things I can cook taste bad. My pancakes are the best around.
"Yeah. He's away in Toronto for a tournament," I told her.
She nodded. "I saw ze game on ze telly zis afternoon."
"You know what? I 'ave not 'ad a single meal with my fiancé zis entire trip but I 'ave spent almost everyday with you, Fred. We don't even 'ave the same 'otel room. 'e said zat we should get two because of ze interviews and work 'e 'as." Marie laughed. "Pierre is acting very, 'ow you say, weird?"
I sighed, setting down my fork. This was it. I had to tell her. She, more than anyone, even Hermione, deserved to know. "Marie, I have something to tell you."
"What is it, Fred? Is something wrong?" Marie asked, looking me in the eyes. Damn her innocent blue eyes, she was just making this harder.
"Marie, Pierre is cheating on you." I told her. I waited for the explosion, the mad flinging of the silver ware, the hysterical crying, the throwing up, whatever. I braced myself for the worst but she just sat there, swallowing her pancake.
In fact, she didn't really show any change in emotion at all. She acted like I just told her that I had gotten mail or something. As if it was a non-life changing event. "I zought so." She said, at last, gently setting down her knife and fork, not flinging them at me like I expected.
"Marie, I am so sorry," I said, gently rubbing her hand from across the table.
"'ow do you know zis, Fred?" She asked, now folding her napkin into what looked like a flower. Hey, girls do weird things when they're upset. Some throw silverware at you, others fold napkins into pretty designs. I personally prefer the latter, although the lack of anger was kind of unnerving.
"Pierre is dating my friend. She loves him, she told me so. But Marie, she has no idea about you. She thinks Pierre is single." I told her.
"Pierre always was a good actor," Marie said, setting her flower napkin down on the table.
"I figured it out when I saw him with her and then the picture of you two on the book jacket." I explained.
"So you 'ave known for over two weeks?" Marie said with an eerie calmness.
I could feel a lump forming in my throat. "Yes, I'm sorry Marie, I should have told you sooner. I just didn't know what to do. I didn't know whether to tell Hermione or to tell you or to just go and hex the crap out of Pierre or what"
"So 'er name is 'ermione?" Marie replied. "Zat is pretty." Then her eyes got big and she looked at me. "Your 'ermione?"
"Yeah." I said.
"Oh, Fred," Marie sighed. "''ow did we wind up in such a mess?"
"I don't know."
"'ave you told 'ermione about Pierre yet? 'ave you talked to Pierre?"
I shook my head no to both questions.
"I will show 'is ass," Marie snapped and she whipped out a celly fellytone like the one Hermione has and dialed a number. "Pierre? Where are you?"
Pierre must have muttered a response.
"Stay zere. We need to talk. I am coming in a minute." She told him and then muttered something in French.
"Marie, I am so sorry, I should have told you sooner," I said, getting up from the chair after she hung up.
"You 'ave no reason to be sorry, Fred Weasley. No one should 'ave to tell someone zat zeir fiancé is cheating. You are far more brave zan I am. I don't know zat I could 'ave told my friend if I was in your shoes. You are a good person, Fred Weasley." She smiled and pushed her chair in. "Ze pancakes were lovely. I am only sorry zat I did not 'ave time to sample ze famous milkshakes. You owe me one, okay?"
"Definitely," I promised and gave her a quick hug.
"Mione?" A voice cracked on my cell phone.
"Pierre, what's wrong?" I asked, sitting down on my bed.
"Listen," he coughed. "I don't feel so good. I think I'm going to have to cancel on our date tonight. I am ever so sorry."
"Don't be sorry," I told him. "Just get better."
"I'll try and do that, love." He teased before coughing again. "I call you later, babe."
"Love you," I whispered but he had already hung up.
He sounded horrible on the phone. Suddenly, the idea just smacked me in the forehead. I would take dinner to him, make he his favorite food.
"Do you want me to go with you?" I offered but Marie shook her head.
"I don't want to drag you into zis horrible mess anymore," she said.
She looked at me like she didn't want to leave. "I am going to break up with him zis time."
"This time? You mean he has done it before?"
"Once. In college. I caught 'im kissing another girl. 'e said it was a one time zing and I believed 'im. But I look back now and I realized zat zat was probably not true. But we are over now."
"Good."
"And I am going to keep ze cat!" Marie declared.
"The cat?" I asked, desperately trying to figure out how a cat factored into all this.
"We share an apartment and a cat," Marie explained. "Well, 'e is moving out and 'olly is staying with me!" She took a deep breath. "I better go now Fred. But we will keep in touch, no?"
"Of course, you are welcome any time."
I walked up to the front desk, my arms loaded with a picnic basket. It was filled with sandwiches and cream puffs, and crackers with cheese. Pierre was going to feel better in no time.
"What room is Pierre Gregory in?" I asked the desk elf.
"And who would you be?" She squeaked back.
"His girlfriend."
The elf looked down for a minute and furrowed her brow. "Third floor, sixth door to your left. Elevator is down the hall across from the game room."
"Thank you."
I walked towards the elevator and it started to close just as I approached it. "Hold the door!" I called and a perfectly manicured hand stuck between the doors so it would open.
"Thanks," I said to the owner of the hand. She was a pretty girl, about my age with long dark brown hair that curled at the ends and bright puppy dog blue eyes,
"What floor?" She asked.
"Third."
"You 'aving a romantic dinner with your boyfriend?" She asked, noticing the picnic basket.
"Yeah. What brings you to this hotel?"
"My scum of a fiancé. I am 'ere to break up with 'im. I found out zat 'e is cheating on me. Zat prat." She hissed.
"I'm sorry," I said.
"What are you sorry about? It's not like you're 'is girlfriend." She replied. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."
"No, it's understandable." I said, looking away from her. "Here's my floor."
"Mine, too."
We both walked down the hall and stopped at the sixth door on the left. Me and the dark haired girl exchanged a look that only registered in my mind a few seconds later.
What the hell was going on?
Thank you so much for reading! Please, please, review! I will try to have the next chapter up asap. I have an idea as to how its going to go, It's called Everybody's Fool, so hopefully it won't take too long to write.
Love ya!
Simple Plan GC Fan
